Chromism For Hemorrhage Control

ABSTRACT

A wound dressing having a chromic material responsive to at least one stimuli. In one or more embodiments, a plurality of individual liquid expandable articles introduce the chromatic material to the wound. The individual liquid-expandable articles release stored mechanical energy and mechanically expand into expanded articles upon contact with a liquid associated with the wound. In response to the chromic material receiving the at least one stimuli the chromic material provides a color change evidencing how long the expanded articles have been in contact with the wound and where the expanded articles are within the wound. In one or more embodiments, determinations may be made about removing the expanded articles from the wound based on the color of the chromic material.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present U.S. nonprovisional application is related to U.S.nonprovisional application entitled “METHODS FOR DRESSING WOUNDS WITHCHROMIC MATERIALS (A1002)”, which is incorporated herein by reference,and having been filed concurrently with the present application.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention generally relates to dressing wounds andcontrolling bleeding and, more specifically, utilizing color changephenomena of chromic materials to treat wounds.

BACKGROUND

Emergency medical professionals treat a myriad of wounds such asbattlefield wounds, civilian gun and knife violence, automobileaccidents and more. However, the first medical professional to treat theinjury is usually not the last to treat the patient. Also, a significantamount of time often elapses between when the injury is initiallystabilized and then when that same injury is subsequently treated withmore specific and extensive treatment. Thus, because of the number ofmedical personnel that could be involved with a patient and then thelength of time a particular wound may need to be treated, many suchpatients may be harmed because information related to the hemorrhagecontrol is not available, has not been shared, or is insufficient. Thus,these limitations diminish the usefulness of existing hemorrhage controldevices and methods.

SUMMARY

According to a non-limiting embodiment, a wound dressing is provided.The wound dressing includes a chromic material responsive to at leastone stimuli. At least one article is configured to introduce thechromatic material to the wound. In response to the chromic materialreceiving the at least one stimuli the chromic material provides anindicator indicating the at least one article is at least partially incontact the wound. The indicator indicates how long the at least onearticle has been at least partially in contact with the wound and wherethe at least one article is placed within the wound. In one or moreembodiments the indicator is a color change evidencing indicates whereat least one article has been placed within the wound.

According to another non-limiting embodiment, another wound dressing isprovided. The wound dressing includes a chromic material responsive toat least one stimuli and a plurality of individual liquid expandablearticles for introducing the chromatic material to the wound. Theindividual liquid-expandable articles release stored mechanical energyand mechanically expand into expanded articles upon contact with aliquid associated with the wound and, in response to the chromicmaterial receiving the at least one stimuli, the chromic materialprovides a color change evidencing how long the expanded articles havebeen in contact with the wound.

According to yet another non-limiting embodiment, a kit for dressing awound is provided. The kit includes a chromic material responsive tocontact with the wound and at least one article configured to introducethe chromatic material to the wound. The kit also includes informationfor measuring a color change of the chromic material as a result of theat least one article being in contact with the wound. The informationincludes at least one of the following: a plurality of colorscorresponding to a plurality of time periods and a plurality of colorscorresponding to a plurality of temperatures. In response to measuringthe color change with the information, a length of time may bedetermined as to how long the at least one article has been in contactwith the wound.

Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniquesof the invention. Other embodiments and aspects of the invention aredescribed in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimedinvention. For a better understanding of the invention with theadvantages and the features, refer to the description and to thedrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The specifics of the exclusive rights described herein are particularlypointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion ofthe specification. The foregoing and other features and advantages ofthe embodiments of the invention are apparent from the followingdetailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawingsin which:

FIG. 1 depicts a generalized exemplary embodiment of a puncture woundfor describing one or more embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 2 depicts a plurality of articles with chromic material within thepuncture wound of FIG. 1 according to one or more embodiments of theinvention;

FIG. 3 depicts the plurality of articles of FIG. 2 expanded within thepuncture wound of FIG. 1 where the chromic material has experienced acolor change according to one or more embodiments of the invention;

FIGS. 4A and 4B depict exemplary embodiments of information formeasuring color change of the chromic material according to one or moreembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 5 depicts an elongated member define a plurality of individualliquid expandable articles having chromic material on each of theexpandable articles according to one or more embodiments of theinvention;

FIG. 6 depicts the elongated member of FIG. 5 where the distal end ofthe elongated member is manually crumpled according to one or moreembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 7 depicts the elongated member of FIGS. 5 and 6 where the crumpleddistal end of the elongated member has been received within a puncturewound according to one or more embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 8 depicts the distal end of the elongated member within thepuncture wound separated from the remainder of the elongated member andthe individual liquid expandable articles within the puncture woundseparated from one another according to one or more embodiments of theinvention;

FIG. 9 depicts a wound dressing having chromic material over a woundaccording to one or more embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 10 depicts the wound dressing of FIG. 9 in contact with the woundwhere the chromic material has changed color according to one or moreembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for dressing a woundaccording to one or more embodiments of the invention; and

FIGS. 12A and 12B are a flow diagram illustrating an alternative methodfor dressing a wound according to one or more embodiments of theinvention.

The diagrams depicted herein are illustrative. There can be manyvariations to the diagram or the operations described therein withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention. For instance, the actionscan be performed in a differing order or actions can be added, deletedor modified. All of these variations are considered a part of thespecification.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the invention are described herein with referenceto the related drawings. Alternative embodiments of the invention can bedevised without departing from the scope of this invention. Variousconnections and positional relationships (e.g., over, below, adjacent,etc.) are set forth between elements in the following description and inthe drawings. These connections and/or positional relationships, unlessspecified otherwise, can be direct or indirect, and the presentinvention is not intended to be limiting in this respect. Accordingly, acoupling of entities can refer to either a direct or an indirectcoupling, and a positional relationship between entities can be a director indirect positional relationship. Moreover, the various tasks andprocess steps described herein can be incorporated into a morecomprehensive procedure or process having additional steps orfunctionality not described in detail herein.

The following definitions and abbreviations are to be used for theinterpretation of the claims and the specification. As used herein, theterms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” “has,”“having,” “contains” or “containing,” or any other variation thereof,are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, acomposition, a mixture, process, method, article, or apparatus thatcomprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only thoseelements but can include other elements not expressly listed or inherentto such composition, mixture, process, method, article, or apparatus.

Additionally, the term “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as anexample, instance or illustration.” Any embodiment or design describedherein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred oradvantageous over other embodiments or designs. The terms “at least one”and “one or more” may be understood to include any integer numbergreater than or equal to one, i.e. one, two, three, four, etc. The terms“a plurality” may be understood to include any integer number greaterthan or equal to two, i.e. two, three, four, five, etc. The term“connection” may include both an indirect “connection” and a direct“connection.”

The terms “about,” “substantially,” “approximately,” and variationsthereof, are intended to include the degree of error associated withmeasurement of the particular quantity based upon the equipmentavailable at the time of filing the application. For example, “about”can include a range of ±8% or 5%, or 2% of a given value.

For the sake of brevity, conventional techniques related to making andusing aspects of the invention may or may not be described in detailherein. In particular, various aspects of computing systems and specificcomputer programs to implement the various technical features describedherein are well known. Accordingly, in the interest of brevity, manyconventional implementation details are only mentioned briefly herein orare omitted entirely without providing the well-known system and/orprocess details.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary wound 10 where a blood vessel 12 has anopening 14 from which blood 16 leaks into a cavity 18. The wound 10 maybe any type of wound such as, for example, but not limited to, an openwound or puncture wound where pressure and stoppage of bleeding isdesirable. Referring to FIG. 2, the wound 10 is illustrated with aplurality of articles 22 for applying pressure and stopping the bleedingfrom the blood vessel 12. The articles 22 may be of any suitablematerial capable of coming into direct contact with the wound 10. Forexample, an article may be, but not limited to, a wound dressing such ascloth, foam, powder, clear film for transparent dressings, hydrocolloiddressings, hydrogel, alginate, and collagen.

In one or more embodiments, the articles 22 are liquid-expandablearticles which expand upon contact with a liquid such as blood or otherliquids used with wounds by medical professionals such as disinfectants,clotting agents and the like. All or some of the articles 22 may be thesame size and shape or some or all may be sized and shaped differentlyin order to conform to irregular wounds, be received within a wound, orplaced in contact with a wound.

Still referring to FIG. 2, the articles 22 may be absorbent materialincluding, but not limited to sponges, cellulose or some other absorbentmaterial. In one or more embodiments, the articles 22 may be compressedor configured to expand such that when received inside the wound 10 thearticles 22 release stored mechanical energy and mechanically expandinto expanded articles 30, as shown in FIG. 3, upon contact with liquidinside the wound 10.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the articles 22 include a chromic material24 responsive to at least one stimuli. Some chromic materials 24 areresponsive to more than one stimuli. The articles 22 are preferableconfigured to introduce the chromic material 24 to and/or dress thewound 10. The chromic material 24 may be placed on, soaked on, orsprayed on the surface or the interior of one or more or all of thearticles 22 in any suitable manner sufficient for then allowing stimulito affect the chromic material 24.

As a result of the stimuli affecting the chromic material 24, thechromic material 24 provides a visual indicator, directly discernable bythe naked eye, indicating the at least one article is at least partiallyin contact the wound 10. In one or more embodiments, the indicatorindicates how long at least one article has been at least partially incontact with the wound 10 and/or where the at least one article isplaced within the wound 10. The indicator may be a color changeevidencing where the at least one article has been placed within thewound 10 or the indictor may be a color change indicating a period oftime associated with how long the at least one article has been incontact with the wound 10. In one or more embodiments, the indicator isa first color corresponding with a first period of time and then changesto a second color corresponding with a second period of time. Forexample, the articles 22 in FIG. 2 have chromic material 24 with a firstcolor corresponding with the initial contact with the wound 10 for thefirst period of time and, as depicted in FIG. 3, the articles 22 haveexpanded into expanded articles 30 having chromic material 32 with asecond color corresponding with the second period of time. The chromicmaterial 32 in FIG. 3 has changed color due to stimuli such as bloodcausing expansion of articles 32 within wound 10. In one or moreembodiments, because the temperature within a wound varies over time dueto healing and variations in the amount of blood present, the indictoris reversible such that the indicator changes from the first color tothe second color and then reverts back to the first color later in timecompared to the second period of time.

Suitable chromic materials for the indicator are those which involve achange in color as a result of one or more stimuli and that aresometimes referred to as chromisms which may include, but is not limitedto: Photochromism (color change caused by light), Thermochromism (colorchange caused by temperature (heat)), Solvatochromism (color changecaused by solvent polarity), Vapochromism (color change caused by vaporof an organic compound due to chemical polarity/polarization),lonochromism (change caused by ions), Halochromism (color change causedby a change in pH), Piezochromism (color change caused by mechanicalpressure), Biochromism (color change caused by interfacing with abiological entity), Cryochromism (color change caused by lowering oftemperature), Hydrochromism (color change caused by interaction withbulk water or humidity) and Chronochromism (color change indirectly as aresult of the passage of time).

There are also multi-stimuli responsive chromic materials which exhibita color change when exposed to two or more stimuli. For example,thermochromic and photochromic effects can be achieved simultaneously byhomogenously mixing powders with appropriate color changing styleselection and proper mass ratio as disclosed in “Multi-StimuliResponsive Chromism With Tailorable Mechanochromic Sensitivity ForVersatile Interactive Sensing Under Ambient Conditions” by Songshan Zenget al., The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2019, which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety. Thus, a chromic materialintroduced to a wound 10 responsive to a plurality of stimuli such as,for example, heat and light, can be utilized to indicate how long anarticle has been in contact with the wound 10.

For example, thermochromic materials change color due to a change intemperature and can be used while treating wounds and wound healingbecause the temperature of a wound varies over time, for example, over aperiod of minutes, hours or over a period of days, especially whilehealing. In one or more embodiments, the thermochromic material changescolor due to the temperature or the temperature change over time of theblood of the wound 10. Thermochromatic crystals and leuco dyes arecapable of displaying different colors at different temperatures. Forexample, the color of thermochromic liquid crystals can continuouslyrange from non-reflective (black) through the spectral colors to blackagain depending on the temperature. Some thermochromic liquid crystalsare cholesteryl nonanoate or cyanobiphenyls. Mixtures with 3 to 5degrees C. span of temperatures and ranges from about 17 to 23 degreesC. to about 37 to 40 degrees C. can be composed from varying portions ofcholesteryl oleyl carbonate, cholesteryl nonanoate, and cholesterylbenzoate. For example, the mass ratio of 65:25:10 yields a range of 17to 23 degrees C. and 30:60:10 yields a range of 37 to 40 degrees C.

Suitable leuco dyes include spirolactones, fluorans, spiropyans andfulgides. Acids which include bisphenol A, parabens, 1,2,3-triazolederivatives, and 4-hydroxycoumarin act as proton donors, changing thedye molecule between its leuco form and its protonated colored form.Stronger acids will make the color change irreversible which facilitatestemperature change determinations. Also, organic leuco dyes areavailable for temperature ranges between minus 5 degrees C. and 60degrees C. in a wide range of colors.

In one or more embodiments, the chromic material is thermochromic andthe indicator is a color change caused by temperature as the at leastone stimuli. For example, the article may be a clotting agent where thecolor change is caused by heat generated by the clotting agent reactingwith a liquid associated with the wound such as blood. In one or moreother embodiments, the chromic material is chronochromic and theindicator is caused by how long the chromic material has been in contactwith the liquid. In other words, the color change of the chromicmaterial is caused by the passage of time.

One or more embodiments may include a kit for dressing a wound 10. Thekit includes a chromic material 22 responsive to contact with the woundand at least one article configured to introduce the chromatic material22 to the wound 10. The kit also includes information for measuring acolor change of the chromic material 22 as a result of the stimuli suchas being in contact with the blood of the wound 10. FIGS. 4A and 4Billustrate exemplary embodiments of a chart or table of information 40,46 for measuring color change of the chromic material.

In FIG. 4A, the information 40 includes a plurality of colors 42corresponding to a plurality of temperatures 44. In response toidentifying the color of the chromic material and, thus, measuring thecolor change based on ambient temperature of the chromic material priorto contacting a wound versus the subsequent temperature of the chromicmaterial while contacting the wound the length of time may be determinedas to how long the at least one article has been in contact with thewound. Alternatively, in FIG. 4B, the information 46 includes theplurality of colors 42 corresponding to a plurality of time periods 48.In one or more embodiments, some or all of both the temperatures 44 andtime periods 48 could be combined on the same chart or table along withthe corresponding colors 42. Referencing FIG. 4B, by identifying thecolor of the chromic material while the article has been in contact withthe wound, a length of time may be determined as to how long the atleast one article has been in contact with the wound.

In one or more embodiments, one or more of the expanded articles 30 maybe removed from the wound 10 based on the color change of the chromicmaterial 32 indicating how long the at least one expanded article 30 hasbeen at least partially in contact with the wound 10 and thendetermining that one or more of the expanded articles 30 have been incontact with the wound 10 for too long. For example, in one or moreembodiments, introducing the chromic material via at least one articleinto a wound may be performed by a first medical professional such as aparamedic and then removal of that at least one article with thatchromic material from that wound based on the color change of thechromic material may be performed by a second medical professional suchas a surgeon. Removal of the at least one article from the wound by thesecond medical professional may be performed without knowledge of whenthe first medical professional introduced the chromic material via theat least one article to the wound.

Turning now to FIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8, FIG. 5 depicts an alternativeembodiment of an article in the form of an elongated member 50 defininga plurality of individual liquid expandable articles 52 wherein theindividual liquid-expandable articles 52 release stored mechanicalenergy and mechanically expand into expanded articles upon contact withliquid. Although the elongated member 50 in FIG. 5 is depicted with aparticular number of expandable articles 52, the elongated member 50 mayhave any number of articles 52.

The elongated member 50 also includes chromic material 54 on all or onone or more of the articles 52. Then the elongated member 50 may beconfigured to be at least partially received within the wound 10. Forexample, FIG. 6 depicts a distal end 56 of the elongated member 50 ofFIG. 5 where a portion 58 of the distal end 56 of the elongated member50 is manually squeezed, crumpled, crushed or otherwise reduced in sizeabout a circumference or diameter such that the distal end 56 is thensized to be received inside or within the wound 10 as shown in FIG. 7.The length of the portion 58 of the elongated member 50 may bedetermined by estimating the depth of the wound 10. FIG. 8 then alsoshows a portion 62 of the plurality of the individual liquid-expandablearticles 52 of the elongated member 50 remaining outside the wound 10.The distal end 56 of the elongated member 50 corresponding with theportion 58 received inside the wound 10 may be manually separated fromthe other portion 62 of the elongated member 50 not in contact with thewound 10 and remaining outside or exterior to the wound 10 by pullingapart, stretching, tearing, ripping or other suitable method ofseparating the two portions 58, 62 from one another.

Upon being received within the wound 10, all or some of the articles 52then mechanically separate from one another. For example, the articles52 affected by stimuli, such as coming into contact with liquid orblood, separate from one another due to the stored mechanical energy andmechanical expansion into the expanded articles. The articles 52 alsoseparate from one another as a result of becoming obstructed orrestricted against one another or against the sides of the cavity 18while expanding to fill the cavity 18 of the wound 10. Alternatively,the articles 52 could be held together by a liquid soluble adhesive thatdissolves upon contact with liquids such as blood. In one or moreembodiments, the articles 52 separate from one another as a result ofthe portion 58 of the elongated member being pushed into the wound 10and getting bent against itself within the wound 10.

In one or more embodiments, one or more of the articles 52 once expandedmay be removed from the wound 10 based on the color change of thechromic material 54 indicating how long the at least one article 52 hasbeen at least partially in contact with the wound 10 and thendetermining that one or more of the articles 52 after being expanded hasthen been in contact with the wound 10 for too long.

In one or more embodiments, a distal end of the portion 62 may also bemanually squeezed, crumpled, crushed or otherwise reduced in size abouta circumference or diameter such that another portion of the distal end62 is then sized to be received inside or within wound 10 or a second ordifferent wound. The portion of the distal end 62 within the wound maythen be manually separated from yet another portion of the plurality ofarticles 52 not in contact with the wound and still remaining outside orexterior to the wound by pulling apart, stretching, tearing, ripping orother suitable method of separation.

FIG. 9 depicts an alternative embodiment of an article configured as awound dressing 80 having chromic material 84 over a wound 82. The wounddressing may be for example, but not limited to, a cloth dressing andwound 82 may be, for example, but not limited to, an open wound or anabrasion. In one or more embodiments, the wound dressing 80 may bepre-cut or in the form of a roll and the chromic material may by sprayedor pasted on after assessing the wound 82. Also, in one or moreembodiments, the wound dressing 80 may be a foam combined with thechromic material 84. FIG. 10 then depicts the wound dressing 80 of FIG.9 in contact with the wound 82 such that all or part of the chromicmaterial 84 has had a color change 86 as a result of stimuli associatedwith the wound 82.

In one or more embodiments, the wound dressing 80 may be removed fromthe wound 82 based on the color change 86 of the chromic material 84indicating how long the wound dressing 80 has been at least partially incontact with the wound 82 and then determining that the wound dressing80 has been in contact with the wound 82 for too long.

FIG. 11 depicts a flow diagram of a method for dressing a woundaccording to one or more embodiments of the invention. The method 100includes process block 110 for introducing a chromic material via atleast one article to the wound and process block 120 for stimulating thechromic material with a stimuli. The method 100 then includes processblock 130 for providing a color change in response to stimulating thechromic material and process block 140 for indicating via a color changeof the chromic material how long the at least one article has been atleast partially in contact with the wound.

The method 100 may also include one or more other process blocks. In oneor more embodiments, the method 100 can include indicating where the atleast one article is within the wound. The method 100 can also includemeasuring the color change from information that include a plurality ofcolors corresponding to a plurality of time periods where, in responseto measuring the color change, a length of time the at least one articlehas been in contact with the wound is determined. In one or moreembodiments, indicating via the color change includes providing a firstcolor change in response to initial contact of the at least one articlewith the wound and then subsequently providing a second color change inresponse to prolonged contact of the at least one article with thewound. Also, in one or more embodiments, the at least one articleincludes an elongated member defining the plurality of individual liquidexpandable articles. The method 100 may also include manually crumplinga distal end of the elongated member such that a portion of theplurality of individual liquid expandable articles are sized to bereceived within the wound. The method 100 may then include manuallyseparating the crumpled distal end from another portion of the elongatedmember not in contact with the wound.

The method 100 may also include crumpling a distal end of the otherportion of the elongated member such that another portion of theplurality of individual liquid expandable articles are sized to bereceived within a second wound. Then the method 100 may include manuallyseparating the crumpled distal end of the other portion of the elongatedmember from yet another portion of the elongated member not in contactwith the wound.

The method 100 may also include removing the at least one article fromthe wound based on the color change of the chromic material indicatinghow long the at least one article has been at least partially in contactwith the wound.

FIGS. 12A and 12B depict a flow diagram of another method for dressing awound according to one or more embodiments of the invention. The method200 includes process block 210 for introducing a chromic material via atleast one article to the puncture wound and process block 220 forstimulating the chromic material with a stimuli. The method 200 alsoincludes process block 230 for manually crumpling a distal end of aportion of the at least one article such that the distal end of theportion is sized to be received within the puncture wound and processblock 240 for manually separating the crumpled distal end from anotherportion of the at least one article not within the puncture wound. Themethod 200 includes process block 250 for providing a first color changeof the chromic material in response to initial contact of the at leastone article with the puncture wound and then subsequently providing asecond color change of the chromic material in response to prolongedcontact of the at least one article with the wound. Next, the method 200includes process block 260 for measuring color changes of the chromicmaterial from information comprising a plurality of colors correspondingto a plurality of time periods and, in response, determining a length oftime the at least one article has been in contact with the puncturewound.

The method 200 may also include one or more other process blocks. In oneor more embodiments, the method 200 can include process block 270 forcrumpling a distal end of the other portion of the at least one articlesuch that another portion of the at least one article is sized to bereceived within a second puncture wound. The method 200 can also includeremoving the at least one article from the puncture wound based on thecolor change of the chromic material indicating how long the at leastone article has been at least partially in contact with the wound. Inone or more embodiments, introducing the chromic material via the atleast one article to the puncture wound is performed by a first medicalprofessional and removing the at least one article from the puncturewound based on the color change of the chromic material is performed bya second medical professional. Also, in one or more embodiments,removing the at least one article from the puncture wound by the secondmedical professional is performed without knowledge of when the firstmedical professional introduced the chromic material via the at leastone article to the puncture wound.

Additional processes may also be included. It should be understood thatthe processes depicted in FIGS. 11, 12A and 12 B representillustrations, and that other processes may be added or existingprocesses may be removed, modified, or rearranged without departing fromthe scope and spirit of the present disclosure.

In some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the processblocks may occur out of the order noted in the Figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdescribed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A wound dressing, comprising: a chromic materialresponsive to at least one stimuli; and at least one article configuredto introduce the chromatic material to the wound, wherein in response tothe chromic material receiving the at least one stimuli the chromicmaterial provides an indicator indicating the at least one article is atleast partially in contact the wound.
 2. The wound dressing of claim 1wherein the indicator indicates how long the at least one article hasbeen at least partially in contact with the wound.
 3. The wound dressingof claim 1 wherein the indicator indicates where the at least onearticle is placed within the wound.
 4. The wound dressing of claim 3wherein the indicator is a color change indicates where at least onearticle has been placed within the wound.
 5. The wound dressing of claim1 wherein the indicator is a color change indicating a period of timeassociated with how long the at least one article has been in contactwith the wound.
 6. The wound dressing of claim 1 wherein the indicatorchanges color over time and wherein a first color corresponds with afirst period of time and a second color corresponds with a second periodof time.
 7. The wound dressing of claim 6 wherein the indictor isreversible such that the indicator having changed from the first colorto the second color reverts back to the first color later in timecompared to the second period of time.
 8. The wound dressing of claim 1wherein the chromic material is thermochromic and the indicator is acolor change caused by temperature as the at least one stimuli.
 9. Thewound dressing of claim 8 wherein the at least one article is a clottingagent and wherein the color change is caused by heat generated by theclotting agent reacting with a liquid associated with the wound.
 10. Thewound dressing of claim 1 wherein the chromic material is chronochromicand the indicator is caused by how long the chromic material has been incontact with the liquid.
 11. The wound dressing of claim 1 wherein theat least one article comprises a clotting agent and wherein the at leastone stimuli is heat generated by the clotting agent reacting with aliquid associated with the wound.
 12. The wound dressing of claim 1wherein the at least one article is a wound dressing.
 13. The wounddressing of claim 1 wherein the at least one article comprises aplurality of individual liquid expandable articles wherein theindividual liquid-expandable articles release stored mechanical energyand mechanically expand into expanded articles upon contact with theliquid.
 14. The wound dressing of claim 1 wherein the at least onearticle comprises an elongated member defining a plurality of individualliquid expandable articles and the elongated member configured to bepartially received within the wound such that a portion of the pluralityof the individual liquid-expandable articles of the elongated memberremain outside the wound and another portion of the plurality of theindividual liquid-expandable articles received inside the wound releasestored mechanical energy and mechanically expand into expanded articlesupon contact with liquid inside the wound.
 15. The wound dressing ofclaim 14 wherein the portion individual liquid expandable articlesremaining outside the wound are separated from the expanded articlesinside the wound.
 16. The wound dressing of claim 14 wherein a distalend of the elongated member is manually reduced in size such that thedistal end is sized to be received inside the wound.
 17. The wounddressing of claim 1 wherein the chromic material provides the indicatoras a result of a plurality of stimuli.
 18. The wound dressing of claim17 wherein the plurality of stimuli comprises heat and light.
 19. Awound dressing, comprising: a chromic material responsive to at leastone stimuli; and a plurality of individual liquid expandable articlesfor introducing the chromatic material to the wound, wherein theindividual liquid-expandable articles release stored mechanical energyand mechanically expand into expanded articles upon contact with aliquid associated with the wound, and wherein in response to the chromicmaterial receiving the at least one stimuli the chromic materialprovides a color change evidencing how long the expanded articles havebeen in contact with the wound.
 20. A kit for dressing a wound, the kitcomprising: a chromic material responsive to contact with the wound; atleast one article configured to introduce the chromatic material to thewound; and information for measuring a color change of the chromicmaterial as a result of the at least one article being in contact withthe wound, wherein the information comprises at least one of thefollowing: a plurality of colors corresponding to a plurality of timeperiods; and a plurality of colors corresponding to a plurality oftemperatures, wherein, in response to measuring the color change withthe information, a length of time may be determined as to how long theat least one article has been in contact with the wound.